In the Semi-Final round play-off of the State Tournament, Westfield White faced the top-seeded long-time nemesis Branchburg.
Difilippo took the mound for Westfield, and held Branchburg to two scores after two innings at bat. During this time, two outstanding grabs by Mele at centerfield retired two Branchburg batters. Shortstop Rinaldi picked up a hard-hit ground ball, froze a Branchburg player during an attempt to steal home from third, and then threw to catcher Heinbokel who applied the tag for another out.
At the top half of the 3rd inning, Westfield’s bats came alive. Back to back singles by Rinaldi and Barmakian, and a walk by Varanao loaded the bases. With two outs, Difilippo hit a too-hard-to handle grounder screaming towards the Branchburg shortstop, sending home two Westfield runners and tying the game at two apiece.
Branchburg started the bottom half of the 3rd inning with a homerun. Bremer caught a line-drive at left field provided the first out. Branchburg then stringed together a few hits, but Westfield was not ready to quit. Boutsikaris picked up a grounder at first for another out while staring down and freezing a runner at third. Westfield then executed an excellent relay from outfield (Varakian) to short (Rinaldi) and to home (Heinbokel) for a tag-out to retire the third Branchburg player stopping the bleeding.
At the top half of the 4th inning, Westfield, down by a score of 6:2, made a formidable run. After one out, Varakian battled for a walk. Mele hit a single over the head of Branchburg infielders, scoring Varakian. Rinaldi followed with a double by driving the ball to leftfield. With another walk by Barmakian, Westfield loaded the bases. Unfortunately, Westfield was unable to bring more runners home in the inning.
At the bottom half of the 4th inning, Rinaldi took over the mound. With players on first and second, a fly-out and a put-out retired the next two batters. Feeling the scoring chance slipping away, Branchburg attempted a double steal, but Westfield catcher Heinbokel fired a bullet to third baseman Difilippo who tagged out the stealing player ending the inning. After four innings of play, Branchburg led by a score of 6:3.
Westfield continued the game with excellent defensive plays and allowed only one more run for the rest of the game, but Branchburg also tightened up its defense. Despite the final score of 7:3 favoring Branchburg, Westfield provided plenty for the fans to cheer about.
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